Voting Green: Health Care

In 2009-2010 health care made up 36% of the Government of Ontario expenses (Government of Ontario). The next closest expenditure of public money is education, coming in at around 16%.

So, we can’t have a reasonable, logical, coherent election without having a serious conversation about health care. If we accept that the population of Ontario is aging rapidly as the largest cohort (Baby Boomers) is retiring we need to talk about two things:

1. What are we doing to ensure that Seniors are getting the quality care they deserve?
2. Are we being progressive and forward thinking in preventing our health care costs from drowning out education, community and social services, business and job creation, etc.

So, let’s look at why the Green Party makes sense for these two questions. Please remember that I try to focus on action oriented, tangible ideas, for the full health care platform go here:

Seniors

1. Invest 2 Billion over 3 years in making a contium of health care more affordable for Seniors
a. Including: Home care, transitional care, assisted living and long term care services
2. Provide tax credits to family members staying home to take care of elderly relatives
3. Improve the funding of long term care homes and assist with elevating their level of care to provincial standards
a. We currently rate behind other Canadian Provinces and comparably to Mississippi

Long Term Solutions/Forward Thinking

1. The GPO ideas for health care are founded in health promotion and illness prevention, including:
a. Using zoning powers to ensure communities are walking and cycling friendly
b. Integrate the Ministry of Health Promotion and Ministry of Health and Long Term Care
c. Create a $285 Million dollar fund to improve water and sewage infrastructure

Specific Impact on Guelph

I know many families in Guelph that are faced with significant challenges around the cost and time commitment of caring for an elderly family member. Making their job even a little bit easier is a worthwhile goal of an effective government.

Elevating the importance of health promotion, ensuring the we have access to clean water and committing to providing easier access to an active lifestyle will benefit not only our quality of life but the bottom line of our government’s budget as well.

Conclusion

A candidate shouldn’t talk about job creation, energy costs, immigration, education or any other provincial issue without first being transparent about how they are approaching this problem. The Green party is transparent and realistic in it’s approach and I don’t think that can be said about the other parties.

Voting Green: Fear based, strategic voting

My sense is this election will boil down to the same choice as the federal election:

1.       Do we want a representative from a party who believes that Government is inherently bad, wastes our money, can’t effectively serve us and should stick to mostly staying out of our way. (Conservative)

2.       Do we want a representative who believes that Government can be inherently good, stand up for those without voices, create a system where jobs are created, children are taught, seniors are cared for and families are able to take care of themselves and their neighbours? (Progressive parties: Green, Liberal, NDP)

In the Federal election, the choice was resoundingly to reject the Conservative option and choose the progressive candidate who was well liked AND appeared to be the most capable of beating the Conservative.

The Provincial election has the same options, but different influences. I have heard rumours that the Green campaign (of which I am not on the leadership team this time around) is going to release polling showing them within the margin of error of the Liberal candidate, with both down a handful of percentage points to the Conservative candidate. For the first time, Guelph can be empowered to vote Green not only because they represent better ideas and better leadership, but because they are the progressive party most likely to beat the Conservatives. People who traditionally vote conservative may fear a Liz Sandals re-election and in a few weeks become worried that Mr. Schirk won’t make it. They too may end up being pushed in the Green direction.

I personally reject fear based voting and think you should vote for the party that best represents the kind of leadership and problem solving you want to see. With that said, if you are a person who subscribes to fear based, strategic voting, then now is the time for you to make history by electing Ontario’s first Green MPP.

Voting Green: GPO means jobs

The Green Party has the most forward thinking and creative job creation strategy of all the parties that balances the budget by 2015. The plan boils down to a very simple philosophy: If we reduce personal and business taxes, than individuals and businesses will have more incentive to save. As they save, they will be able to put more money into innovation, research and ultimately invest money in job creation.

This requires an incremental process that does two things:

1)      Reduce personal income tax and business tax. This will result in more money in the pockets of people who currently make an income or own a small business.

2)      Increase tax on pollution (carbon).

a.       This process would happen gradually, with relief for people with low income, seniors and rural areas.

b.      Every penny charged in a carbon tax will be offset by income and business tax cuts and WILL NOT go to increase government spending

This will allow each individually to have more control over how much money they give to the government. If you want to drive a car that has a lower mile per gallon rating or you want to buy and old house and not take advantage of the Green proposed tax incentives to renovate it for energy efficiency: You can. If you want to drive a smarter car, take transit, live in an energy efficient home then you get to save more of your money.

The best thing about this process is we won’t even be pioneers, we know it works because we’ve seen it start to work in Nordic countries and even in BC. It’s only the stubbornness and paralysis of our current political leadership that prevents us from getting there.

To read more details about the GPO job creation strategy, check out: http://www.gpo.ca/sites/gpo.ca/files/attachments/gpo_issues_paper_econ.pdf

What does this mean for Guelph?

More jobs. More job security. More money in our pockets.